The game was lopsided but the Orange County Youth Football League Division 3 Super Bowl on Nov. 16 at Marlboro High School was a win-win for Newburgh, with the Newburgh Goldbacks and the Newburgh Steelers playing each other.

The game, however, went the Goldbacks’ way as they finished an unbeaten season with a 51-0 win.

“All the eighth graders from both teams will move up and play together on the same team next year for our high school,” Goldbacks coach Greg Roe said. “To have both teams in the Super Bowl is a win-win for our community.”

Division 3 wasn’t the only undefeated team the Goldbacks put on the field this season. The unbeaten Division 1 team also won its championship with a 14-7 win over the Valley Central Vikings.

Even though they didn’t have a championship game on Nov. 16., the Goldbacks’ Mighty Mites team was also undefeated.

The D3 championship has been about 10 years in the making. Roe had coached a Goldbacks team to the Super Bowl in each of the previous two seasons but lost. This was the first time they conquered that goal.

“This was extra special when you go through that,” Roe said. “The younger kids went through it last year with me, and then with my coaches. It’s been two years of getting there and feeling so good about getting there but losing. This was pretty cool because of that.”

The Goldbacks were led by four eighth-grade captains – James Lilla, Zachary Parks, Elijah Lewis and Callen Blackington. The team was made up of about 60 percent eighth graders, who will be aging into the Newburgh Free Academy football program next fall.

“This was, by far, the best group of kids and they were the ultimate team,” Roe said. “They all bought into the team component aspect. Even though we had a bunch of superstar kids, there was no ego. It was just all about the team, so it was really cool. We preached that all the time.”

The eighth graders got the bulk of the starts, but since the Goldbacks mercied just about every team they played, the younger kids got plenty of playing time. According to OCYFL rules, once a team goes up by three scores, starting skill players had to come out of the game.

“I can’t tell you how much those kids benefited,” Roe said. “Those kids, in a normal year, would never have played nearly as much as they did this year on a championship team. They got so much game-time experience. Practice is one thing, but what they were able to gain – as far as in-game experience was like no other.”